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McGill, News

McGill alumni offer new tutoring services to give students more options

by Julie Guichard on

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On Nov. 21, Nimbus Tutoring Inc. launched an online tutoring service that matches McGill students with tutors—often master’s or PhD students—at the university. Nimbus plans to expand to Concordia students within the next few weeks.

According to Nimbus Founder and CEO William Liu, a McGill alumnus from the class of 2017, the idea for the platform came from his poor experiences with McGill’s Tutorial Service, which pairs tutees with undergraduate and graduate student tutors, or alumni who have graduated within the past two years. Tutors must obtain a grade of at least 80 per cent in courses they wish to teach, and teaching can only be done in-person.

“McGill tutorial is all done though email which leads to long waiting times,” Liu said. “Payments are also only done through cash, which many students find awkward.”

To avoid similar inefficiencies or discomfort, Nimbus’ app enables students to schedule and pay for appointments the day of and coordinate with their tutors to arrange plans.

“The tutoring industry is currently fragmented, and could benefit from the integration of technology,” Nimbus Marketing and Communications Director Josephine Kuo said. “We believe that by using technology, we can disrupt this industry and provide a platform that is better for both tutors and students.”

Nimbus describes itself as tutor-centric, since tutors can set their own prices according to their needs. Tutors are free to list their prices between $15 and $40 per hour, but most often charge around $15 to $25 compared to McGill Tutorial Services’ fixed $15 per hour price.

Nimbus’ long-term goal is to provide tutoring in subjects beyond what is found in university curricula.

“We want to expand to other fields, such as music, or hobbies, like pottery, for instance,” Liu said. “The premise is to create a platform where anyone with a speciality can share their knowledge through Nimbus.”

In addition to Nimbus, McGill students have access to many other resources. McGill’s own Tutorial service remains an accessible resource for students seeking help with their coursework. Caroline Monahan, U1 Arts, feels satisfied with the tutoring she received through the university.

“I didn’t have to wait at all,” Monahan said. “As soon as I contacted the tutor, I was able to meet with him. I thought the cost [to] quality ratio was incredible. I was receiving [great] tutoring for $15 dollars per hour. My tutor was flexible [and] could meet me anytime.”

McGill is looking to further improve its tutorial services over the span of this semester. In an email to the The McGill Tribune, Lina Di Genova, interim director of McGill Tutorial Services, shared her plans to solicit feedback from students and student associations to determine areas with high demand for tutoring.

“We will be [identifying] priority areas and [exploring] the possibility of new options, including group tutoring, tutor feedback mechanisms, and online [platform] options,” Di Genova said. “In cases when tutors are not readily available, we work with academic departments to find a tutor to support McGill students.”

In response to the lack of McGill-tailored tutorial services offered online, a company called GradeSlam, also founded by a McGill alumnus, Philip Cutler, has focused its services on online accessibility and unlimited tutoring for an annual fee of $50 per student.

“The GradeSlam tutors are available online 24/7 for any subject and students can work with a tutor for as long as they want, as often as they want,” Jacob Geller, marketing manager at GradeSlam, said.

GradeSlam also offers service called Essay Writing Review. Through this service, students can submit their written work in any field or language and receive feedback within 24 hours.

Student Life

Cafes that are actually conducive to studying: West of campus edition

by Amina Magnin & Ana Earl on

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With midterms fast approaching, it’s becoming increasingly important for students to find study environments where they can focus to the best of their abilities. Thankfully, Montreal is home to a plethora of cafés, for those growing tired of McGill’s draining and dreary libraries. In addition to the many study spots around McGill and in the Plateau, the area west of campus boasts a multitude of trendy coffee shops for hitting the books. The McGill Tribune has compiled a short guide to help students find the best cafés West of campus for their study preferences.

Café Spoon

Address: 2183 Crescent St, Montreal, QC H3G 2C1
Opening hours:
Weekend (Sat – Sun): 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Weekdays (Mon – Fri): 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Located less than 10 minutes from McGill, this quaint cafe’s bright lighting, fast and free WiFi, and calm background music make it a uniquely cozy place to study. No need to worry about getting hungry throughout the day—Café Spoon’s menu offers a wide range of salads, soups, and sandwiches in the $9 to $10 range. If that’s too pricey, the cafe also offers smaller snacks and pastries—some of which are vegan and vegetarian. Also serving relatively-affordable coffees and teas, Café Spoon has the caffeine fix you need to keep your energy levels high throughout the day. However, with only 10 small tables, the lack of seating space and low number of outlets might not make this coffee shop the ideal place for working in a group or using your computer all day. Nevertheless, Café Spoon is a great place for a productive day of doing readings or studying in solitude.

Yelp rating: 4 / 5 stars
Tribune rating: 4 / 5 stars
Price: $$

 

Café Myriade

Address: 1432 Mackay St, Montreal, QC H3G 2H7
Opening hours:
Weekend (Sat – Sun): 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Weekdays (Mon – Fri): 7:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

A 20 minute walk from McGill campus, Café Myriade is a great spot for those who can only work with absolutely no distractions. Located on the serene Mackay Street, this cafe offers a serene environment for those looking to catch up on readings or study textbook notes. And with no free WiFi available, students won’t have the Internet to derail their focus. However, Café Myriade’s very limited food menu, small seating space, and scarcity of outlets mean this spot might not be your best bet during busy study times—especially as midterm season approaches. Its large windows and abundance of natural lighting, relatively calm background music, and variety of affordable drinks do, however, make it a nice place to study for a few hours. Overall, this a great place to grab a coffee or tea, but not necessarily the best place to work for a full day, especially if you find yourself needing Internet for any assignments.

Yelp rating: 4.5/5
Tribune rating: 3/5
Price: $


Cafe Aunja

1448 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC H3G 1K4
Hours: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. everyday

Located on Sherbrooke Street West, just past the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Cafe Aunja has a cozy, eclectic vibe. This Persian cafe serves a wide variety of teas, coffee, and unique breakfast and lunch items, including vegan options, with sandwiches priced around $9 and salads from $4 to $6. As you enter the cafe, you can see that the space is divided into two rooms. In the main room, the tables are large enough to get some work done under big windows and twinkle lights. The cafe is most suited to individual studying as it is mainly furnished with small tables, with only one or two larger ones for groups. Also, the main room is a bit noisy during busy times, so students looking for a quieter work space can take respite in the back room of the cafe, which is more isolated from talkative coffee-goers. In choosing when to visit, note that this cafe gets rather busy in the evenings with guests who come to enjoy live music over dessert, so make sure to come before or after rush time at 6 p.m.. Aunja is open until 10 p.m. every night, so for those who can focus in loud environments, this is the ideal spot for late-night studying.

Yelp Rating: 4
Tribune Rating: 4.5
Price: $$


Kafein Café-Bar

1429 Bishop St, Montreal, QC H3G 2E4
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 12 a.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Sunday:  11 a.m. – 7 a.m.

Kafein Café-Bar is a two-story café and bar serving coffee and $6 smoothies during the day, and $6 to $8 wine and cocktails in the evenings. This makes it the perfect spot for students who enjoy studying in a social atmosphere or those who like to reward a long day of studying with a drink. In addition to their beverages, Kafein Café-Bar has a varied food menu, which includes $8 salads and sandwiches, some of which are vegetarian and vegan. After ordering your food from the bar on the main floor, head up to the upper floor of the cafe-bar to study. This space has large windows, exposed brick, and two-person tables. Try to grab tables close to an outlet as well, which, unfortunately, are few and far between. The café plays loud music, so bring headphones if you prefer to work in silence. Assuming you’re able to grab a large enough table and an outlet, the cafe’s expansive menu, unlimited WiFi, and long hours make Kafein a good place to study all day long. 

Yelp Rating: 3.5
Tribune Rating: 4
Price: $$

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Poignant opera on the Kennedy family debuts in Canada

by Avleen Mokha on

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An opera in three acts, JFK offers a compelling insight into the private lives of the fabled Kennedy family. A collaborative undertaking by the Opéra de Montréal, the Fort Worth Opera, and the American Lyric Theater, JFK is a personal drama exploring the costs of being a public figure.

The narrative traces the 12 hours preceding former U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination in Dallas, Texas. The opera opens with an insomniac Jack (Matthew Worth) and Jackie (Daniela Mack) Kennedy in their hotel suite. While Jackie mourns the symbolic distance in their marriage, the President falls asleep in the bathtub. Jackie administers morphine to Jack to help him with his chronic back pain, and also takes some herself. Both Kennedys drift into their own narcotic-induced sleeps, setting up for a series of frenzied nightmares that reveals their subconscious fears and desires.

The emotive lyricism of Royce Vavrek’s text simply-yet-deftly captures the complex inner life of the two main protagonists. Jack’s nightmares underscore his personal struggles: His sense of guilt for his sister Rosemary Kennedy’s unsuccessful lobotomy, the fear of Texan democrats that taunt him (“Why can’t you get anything done in Washington?”), and the looming threat of the Soviet Communists. As he is pushed from one nightmare to the next, Jack’s character becomes helpless and tormented. However, Jack’s dream sequence is notably weaker than Jackie’s, who draws the majority of the audience’s sympathies. Mack’s impeccable performance communicates Jackie’s struggles with the loss of her two children, Arabella and Patrick, while trying to establish a sense of intimacy with her distant husband. Her monologues are rife with imagery of loss, as she mourns the pain of an empty crib. “The largest wound [is] the empty space where joy was meant to be,” Jackie cries.

For better or for worse, JFK is guided by emotions, not by plot. The opera heavily relies on the classical motif of “the Fates,” personifications of fate and destiny. In JFK, the three Fates are historical figures who were part of the Lincoln assassination plot. The opera reimagines each of these individuals within Kennedy’s context: Clara Harris is The Spinner, hotel maid; Henry Rathbone is the Allotter, secret service member; and the Cutter is most likely Lee Harvey Oswald. Through its allusions to the Fates, JFK is able to devote more time to the characters of Jack and Jackie Kennedy; unfortunately, this focus means that there is less development of antagonistic forces, thereby diluting the sense of threat.

JFK’s visual design is particularly commendable. The set, designed by Thaddeus Strassberger, employs striking symbolism, impressive illusions of depth, and a focus on sinister geometric patterns. A rectangular spotlight closes in on the newly-wed couple, injecting a sense of claustrophobia into a moment of joy. The design finds a delicate balance between realistic interiors and garish, neon lighting. The tasteful use of projections also adds an element of realism. For instance, as Jack relives his wedding dance with Jackie, black and white projections of the real Kennedys dancing on their wedding day breathe life into the characters onstage.

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, with Steven Osgood as conductor, contributes to the ambiance of heightened sentimentality. During the choral introduction to the opera, flutes bolster the ghostly effects of the vocals. The final act, which features a more prominent stage presence of the Fates, is marked by heavy percussion and turbulent violin. As Jackie watches over a sleeping Jack, she mourns, “You are the American phenomenon. Where has Jack gone?” The real tragedy of JFK is not the external threat of assassination, but an internal one: A family whose life is “captured at shutter speed” has become too dysfunctional to heal. The pain is visceral; as the audience views the many rooms of the Kennedys’ suite, one wishes to look away for just a moment, if only to grant the doomed characters one moment of solitude.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

In memory of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith

by Kevin Reynolds on

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Mark E. Smith, who died Jan. 24, seemed somewhat immortal in a way that few artists can. As frontman of The Fall, in his 40-year career, Smith and his band released some 30 studio albums and just as many live albums, compilations, and collections of rarities.

Despite his ailing health, Smith sounds as youthful on The Fall’s last album, New Facts Emerge, as he did at any point in his inimitable career. Smith’s youthful intensity and prolific work ethic defined The Fall, almost more so than the music itself. Sure, The Fall are far from the only band to release a lot of albums. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released 5 albums in 2017 alone; Gucci Mane somehow managed to export a seemingly endless supply of vocal tracks during his 2016 prison stint. What differentiates The Fall from their equally industrious peers, however, is the fact that they didn’t merely release a lot of good albums, but that their albums manage to sound, in the words of John Peel, “always different, but always the same.”

With a voice as distinct as Smith’s, it was impossible for the band to cut a record and not have it sound like The Fall. While the band’s identity is impossible to hide from those who know them, they don’t ever sound like The Fall of last year.

Smith was to The Fall what Jeff Tweedy is to Wilco, or Nick Cave is to the Bad Seeds. The Fall were essentially a collaborative solo project, a vehicle for presenting Smith’s caustic lyrics and madcap ideas in likely a more palatable format than what the vocalist could have made on his own.

The Fall are less of a band and more of an ever-shifting collective. While its nucleus has remained intact, the group has employed 66 members other than Smith throughout its lengthy existence. This influx of new ideas and members, coupled with Smith’s endless lyrical creativity, kept The Fall on their lively trajectory.  

Despite the fast turnover rate of their members, Smith’s lyrics and outlook rarely wavered. To their end, The Fall were always unpredictable, always funny, and always very British. Take my favorite Smith lyric, from the song, “Frightened,” featured on their first proper album, Live at the Witch Trials. In a thick Mancunian accent, Smith sing-songs, “I’m better than them, and I think I’m the best.” Smith never reveals to whom the “them” refers, but it is his attitude here that counts. Such a proclamation is brazen from such an untested artist, especially when one considers The Fall’s contemporaries. Smith belongs to one of the most legendary generations in recent music history, a golden age that includes the Talking Heads, The Cure, and Joy Division. Despite the band’s legendarily wreckless antics, such as re-arranging songs so as to make them purposefully incomprehensible, arriving on stage too intoxicated to perform, and shutting the sound off on various instruments mid-concert, The Fall somehow managed to outlive their more successful counterparts.

The Fall’s was not a fat, content old age. The band never lost their edge, remaining the cocky innovators they were at their inception—angry, funny, and cynical right up to the very end. In that sense, Mark E. Smith and The Fall truly were better than the others, and quite possibly the best band in their class.   

 

Off the Board, Opinion

When AI slips between the sheets

by Ayanna De Graff on

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Last week, I finally watched the 2015 sci-fi and artificial intelligence (AI)-themed movie, Ex Machina. Providing viewers with an in-depth look at the possibilities of AI in a not-so-far future, the film centres around the relationship between a young programmer named Caleb and a seductive robot, Ava. Caleb is mandated to administer the “Turing test”—essentially testing whether Ava can fool a human into thinking that she is not a machine. Aside from Ava’s superior looks and intelligence, and Caleb’s fatal attraction to both, the movie highlights an inevitable issue in the AI debate—the fine line between artificial intelligence and human intelligence, and what happens when it is blurred.

While most researchers seem confident in the possibility of turning a machine into a human, the question as to how to keep humans from turning into machines doesn’t seem to have crossed many minds. Yet, increasingly, the virtual, emotionally-detached, efficiency-driven way of machines has come to govern our society and relationships. Often, this is more harmful than helpful.

In the incessant technological race to simulate humans, AI and human-looking androids have also taken a new, darker purpose as sex robots. These are app-operated machines with the outward physique of a human, whose ultimate goal is not to beat you at chess, but to please you in bed. With a customizable appearance, they can go on for hours. They may very well be the ideal sexual partner for the aloof, feelings-apprehensive, self-centered lover of the 21st century.

This use of AI most likely—and understandably—makes many uncomfortable. The thought of a robot as a sexual partner to a human seems unnatural, awkward, and perhaps even unethical. But, while treating an AI creation as just a physical shell to satisfy our most lustful desires sounds undesirably creepy, it simultaneously reflects how some of us have come to treat our most intimate relationships.

In today’s “hookup culture,” which allows only virtual emotional contact and restricted physical interaction, and where it seems we sometimes meet one another with the sole purpose of fulfilling biological impulses, the parallel to sex robots is not so far-fetched. In our quest to remove ourselves from emotional attachments, we’ve come to treat each other like robots in our intimate interactions. The online dating game exacerbates this trend; from apps, to social media, to Craigslist ads, it’s never been easier to meet people without any real-world contact, and never truly engage with them. It’s also never been easier to dehumanize the person on the other side of the phone screen: From a specific body type, hair or eye colour, ethnicity, to height, we choose and judge the person as if they’re not real. Akin to a virtual machine, the being on the other end is mainly there to fulfill an idealized version of our desires.

In our quest to remove ourselves from emotional attachments, we’ve come to treat each other like robots in our intimate interactions.

It is no surprise, then, that in Ex Machina, Ava eventually passes the test, and Caleb comes to believe that the AI does love him, subsequently falling for her. Even today, sexbots on virtual chat websites are hardly anything worth raising an eyebrow over; fake, machine-generated dating profiles are ubiquitous, because increasingly they’re not so different from our human interactions.

Perhaps it’s the machines that have become a lot like us: They have emotional intelligence, can take on our physical form, and may very soon become smarter than us. But, it’s not far-fetched to think that it’s our interactions—which are often detached and surface-level—that truly make AI objects seem so human. If we treat each other like robots, it’s no wonder that we then struggle to tell both apart.

Google’s Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil has predicted that in 2029 computers will reach human-level intelligence. Ironically, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has argued that to save humanity from irrelevance, humans should be turned into cyborgs, so that they can become the superior machine of the two.

The advancement of AI and the automation of our society are inevitable and have already begun. Soon, human-looking machines will be walking among us, which is why it’s all the more important to remember that we are humans—not machines—and must treat each other as such.

 

Ayanna De Graff is a U3 Economics and Statistics student at McGill and copy editor at the Tribune. Her name means “sunny flower” in Swahili.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
Art, Arts & Entertainment

FAC’s latest iteration of Nuit Blanche explores reiteration

by Sophie Panzer on

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Those who braved the trek across a snowy campus on Feb. 1 were rewarded with an evening of inspiring student artwork. The McGill Fine Arts Council (FAC) hosted its annual Nuit Blanche exhibition in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) building. Nuit Blanche featured McGill-based artists and fine arts clubs, including organizations devoted to dance, creative writing, visual art, theatre, and music. This year’s theme “Itero,” which translates roughly to “Reiteration,” was designed to question the role of repetition in the creation of art.  The event questions whether there’s such a thing as a truly original idea, or if all art is just a reimagination of its predecessors.

As most student artists at McGill are painfully aware, the university offers very few academic opportunities for creative expression—there are no studio arts courses, and ENGL 364, the one creative writing course offered through the English department, is usually capped at 15 students. However, the variety of talent displayed at Nuit Blanche shows that there are plenty of clubs and student groups that can provide artistic inspiration and community instead.

The McGill Students’ Visual Arts Society and the Fridge Door Gallery both featured visual art exhibitions at Nuit Blanche. Visitors were greeted with vibrant shapes and colours featured in larger works mounted on the walls, and encountered more delicate pieces such as small sculptures and sketches while perusing the tables. Several artists displayed sketchbooks or diaries that contained both polished and in-progress work, offering audiences an in-depth look at their creative process. In her piece “Sketchbook,” Leah Smith, U3 Sociology and Philosophy, offered viewers a glimpse of her creative inspiration through collages featuring images of women against backdrops of brightly coloured magazine advertisements. Several tables in the SSMU ballroom were covered by blank paper so that visitors could doodle when inspiration struck.

There was also a section devoted solely to student photography. This exhibition featured the McGill University Photography Students Society (MUPSS) as well as the independently curated work of Nina Chabel, U2 Art History and English Literature, and Madeline Kinney, U3 Cultural Studies. Chabel’s series “Tourists” featured visitors at a museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, snapping pictures on their phones, asking audience members to reflect on the extent to which they view the world through a screen. Chabel also had other photos of St. Petersburg featured in the Fridge Door Gallery section. These shots featured a soft colour palette and vintage vehicles, making viewers feel as though they were gazing at a reiteration of the past.

In addition to visual artwork, the evening featured several performing artists. There were three McGill dance groups in attendance. The members of Alegria performed contemporary ballet, Inertia focused on modern dance, and Mosaica performed a mix of jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip-hop, and tap. Each group danced against the backdrop of a slideshow of artwork featured in F WORD, a Montreal-based feminist zine and collective. The SSMU ballroom also held performances by Montreal-based folk artists Vikki Gilmore,  Clyde Veer, and Shit Whitman, as well as indie rock artists Lara Antebi and Juan Egana.

Editors from the literary magazines The Veg  and Scrivener Creative Review  sold back issues of their publications, which feature work from the McGill and Montreal community.

Much of the artwork on display did not strictly adhere to the theme “Reiteration.” However, viewers could still be amazed at the devotion and talent of the artists represented at Nuit Blanche. The artists’ works offered a view of McGill student life that is not always visible but always worth seeing.

McGill, Montreal, News

Ceremony commemorates held on the anniversary of Quebec City mosque attack

by Victoria Flaherty on

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On Jan. 29, several campus groups held a ceremony of remembrance to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 2017 attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique du Québec, one of the largest mosques in Quebec City. Members of the McGill community and the public gathered in the atrium of the Lorne M. Trottier Building to honour the six men killed and 19 injured when Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire during a time of prayer in what was labelled a terrorist attack.

The ceremony was hosted by the McGill Muslim Students’ Association (MSA), the Institute for Islamic Studies, the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE), and the Joint Board-Senate Committee on Equity.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Shanice Yarde, equity educational advisor at SEDE, stressed the importance of creating a safe space for those impacted by racial and religious violence at McGill.

“It’s incredibly important to [console] Muslim students on and off campus who are directly impacted by this,” Yarde said. “[The shooting] was horrific, and a year later the impacts are still horrific, so we have to still be in conversation critiquing islamophobia.”

Six members of the Montreal and McGill community took turns speaking to condemn racism, emphasize the power of unity, and promote tolerance. After calling for attendees to observe a minute of silence, Angela Campbell, associate provost (Equity and Academic Policies), reminded the crowd of the massacre’s widespread impact.

“This tragedy shook our communities, our province, and our country,” Campbell said.

Next to speak was Sue Montgomery, mayor of Cote-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grace. She addressed the prevalence of islamophobia in Quebec and urged attendees to interfere when witnessing racism or harassment. She also announced that the city council is working toward a declaration condemning islamophobia.

“Hatred comes from a very dark place,” Montgomery said. “Recognizing that [islamophobia] does exist is imperative if we’re going to change anything in this province.

Pasha M. Khan, assistant professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill, took the podium next, and stressed how important it was to feel both pain and power in memory.  

“We all have power, in whatever ways,” Khan said. “But when do we know that we have power? When do we feel that we have power? It’s when we’re putting it to use, exercising power, giving other people power or it’s when other people are giving power to me.”

Student activists Salma Youssef, U3 Science, and Nahal Siraj Fansia, U3 Nursing, also spoke at the ceremony, urging others to practice peace, tolerance, and social awareness.

“When we practice respect and acceptance, two values emphasized by all religions, we eliminate the possibility of intolerance, the inability to understand differences of opinion,” Youssef said. “As we’ve come to learn, ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hate, and hate breeds violence. This day should be an active reminder of the state of our country. It isn’t enough to hope for change. We must be the ones to continue to encourage tolerance and acceptance, and it starts with our own fortitude.”

Ehab Lotayef, activist and IT manager at McGill, concluded the ceremony by announcing McGill’s new efforts to commemorate the massacre and prevent similar incidents. The university will plant a tree on campus in memory of the victims and the event. In addition, the creation of a new merit-based financial award is underway to subsidize educational expenses for students who promote the inclusion of Muslim members of the McGill community.

In an interview with the Tribune, attendee Sara Hany, U1 Engineering, expressed the shock that reverberated through the nation following the attack.

“[Canada]’s supposed to be a peaceful country, so I felt sad that the harmony started to fade,” Hany said. “It’s important to remember [the shooting] because terrorism has no religion.”

Science & Technology

Mind your brain: Improving concussion care

by Gwenyth Wren on

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On Jan. 30, Concussion MTL hosted “Looking Ahead: Improving Concussion Care,” a speaker series focused on concussion prevention, care, and rehabilitation.

The CDC defines concussions as traumatic brain injuries caused by a blow to the head, or by a hit to the body that causes the brain to twist or make contact with the skull. Deborah Friedman, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery at McGill and director of trauma at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, explained the difficulties of caring for a patient with a concussion.

“Concussions by nature all have different trajectories,” Friedman said. “What works for one patient may not work for another. Different cases are all individualized.”

Not only are cases difficult to treat because of their individualistic nature, but the healing process for a concussed individual is not linear, nor is it universal. Nevertheless, there is a set of guidelines that patients with a concussion should follow.

“The first 48 hours are a critical healing period,” Friedman said. “During those 2 days, a person should sleep [and] stay away from screens and stimulus. However, after that it’s best to slowly integrate [non]-intensive cardio and attempt to return to work and school without pushing yourself.”

Unfortunately, there is no test that can rate the severity of a concussion with 100 per cent accuracy, or ensure a quick recovery. CT scans and MRIs won’t show anything unless the patient is experiencing a brain bleed.  

Dr. Gordon Bloom, professor of sport psychology at McGill, explained why this uncertainty presents such a barrier in the recovery process and contributes to the stigma related to concussions.

“With most injuries, doctors and patients alike understand how to get to from point A [the injury] to the finish line, [but] that’s not the case with concussions,” Bloom said. “Doctors can’t give you an exact timeline. Due to this, we are seeing athletes and students alike return to sport, work, or school too early because of a fear of what they are going to miss.”

While this may address the cognitive and physical aspects of concussions, there is another important, often neglected, factor. Hilary Duncan, a clinical psychologist with Blake Psychology, addressed the emotional aspect of the injury: A side of concussion care that receives little attention.

“We see two major things when patients are recovering: Guilt and doubt,” Duncan said. “They always question whether they are babying themselves. The increasing awareness of concussions is very good but we are trailing behind in the mental health-related stuff.”

Recovering from a concussion can be difficult, and a long road if the patient doesn’t follow through on the initial steps to recovery. Friedman has patients who tell her that they wish they could have suffered from a broken bone, or a more obvious injury that other people would believe and accomodate for. This is a recurring theme in concussion recovery. As an otherwise-invisible injury, it is difficult for a concussed individual to get support for their physical and emotional pain, in turn making it less likely for them to seek accommodations.  

The field of concussion research is booming, but preventative strategies are falling short. As frequent diagnoses of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)—a degenerative brain disease resulting from repetitive trauma—continue to permeate the mainstream media, doctors and teachers are brought up to speed on how to best treat concussions. Experts working in concussion care and prevention should focus on teaching coaches, parents, and students how best to mitigate them.

Throughout the panel, the speakers unanimously suggested that spreading awareness and implementing measures to avoid head trauma such as practicing non-contact sports and wearing helmets is a good start, but it’s not enough. Society needs to be proactive, not reactive.

“The concussion epidemic now [is as dangerous as] the smoking epidemic,” Bloom said. “The research isn’t out yet so people don’t want to believe it, [but] people are going to look back and realized they missed out.”

Student Life

Life After Four Loko: Students share mixed feelings over the new provincial drink recall

by Gabriela McGuinty on

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It was late August. The time was 7 a.m. The occasion was Beach Day. As I entered a quaint dépanneur in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood to stock up on alcohol before heading to the bus, I was immediately struck by the brightly coloured cans neatly aligned in a fridge in the center of the small shop. The flashy green, pink, blue, and yellow cans beckoned to me from across the room. Having never actually seen—much less consumed—one before, I would soon learn that these cans held the infamous Four Loko, an alcoholic drink that divides partiers into two camps: Die-hard fans and huge critics.

But my journey with Four Loko would soon be over. Four months later, on Dec. 6, 2017, the Quebec government alongside Embouteillages Solar, the drink’s Quebec manufacturer, decided to pull Four Loko from shelves in deps and grocery stores as it contains a substance that can only legally be sold at the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ).  

“Embouteillage Solar announces the recall of Blue Spike Beverage products from grocery store shelves for the reason that these products contain ethyl alcohol rather than malt fermentation alcohol,” Louis Aucoin, Communication strategist at TESLA RP, a Montreal-based public relations firm, stated in the official recall. “The substitution of these two ingredients has no effect on the alcohol content or the quality of the products. However, the use of ethyl alcohol does not comply with the regulation that only beer, cider, wine or artisanal products may be marketed at food retailers.”*

Whether you’re a first or fourth-year McGill student, it is hard to imagine life post-Four Loko. These drinks overtook pre-ing culture and seemed to have become a staple purchase for nights out. Its 11.9 per cent alcohol content is only one of the many reasons the drink is so popular among students. Four Loko is cost-efficient, priced at around $4, and lasts most consumers all night, meaning one can carry it around with more security than a six-pack.

In addressing the controversy of the recall, some McGill students expressed gratitude for its promotion of healthier drinking habits—Four Loko and other caffeinated alcoholic drinks were once known to pose a risk of heart irregularities, until they were reformulated in 2010.

“It’s honestly for the benefit of everyone,” Mathilde Hourticq, U1 Arts, said. “Four Lokos are disgusting, there are so many tastier ways to get drunk.”

Other students hold drastically different opinions on the banning of Four Loko. Some reminisce about the impact these sugary drinks have had on their most special memories.

“Last time I was happy, I was drinking Four Loko,” Joe Duva, U1 Arts said. “It was the winter of 2015, truly one of the most bitter cold winters I’ve lived through. I had just dug out my elderly neighbour, Mrs. Dorothy, from 8 feet of snow, and was shivering with frostbite in front of a roaring fire I had prepared for myself. I thought I would die that day, but then my girlfriend handed me a glass of Four Loko, and, for a brief moment, I was content. I miss those days. People felt more real.”

Many loyal fans even take the Four Loko ban as a personal attack. For some, the disappearance of Four Loko seemed like saying goodbye to an old friend. To others, it felt like the end of a great love affair.

“Last night I dreamt that I was drinking a Four Loko, a crisp grape flavoured one,” Olivia Berkowitz, U1 Arts, said. “Halfway through a sip I was rudely awoken by my alarm. I don’t want to wake up to a world with no Four Lokos.”

As students cope with the loss of an old companion, the question remains: What drink to turn to next? For now, we remain in a time of mourning and grief, vowing to never forget our beloved beverage.

“There is no drink more ready to get a party going,” Matthew Barreto, U0 Arts, said.“Nothing more iconic and cheap to kick off a night with friends. Nothing that can make a person happier than their first sip of the drink that makes or breaks your night. The Four Loko. The drink of Montreal. The life blood of the party. May the drink truly rest in peace.”

 

* This quote has been translated from French.

Commentary, Opinion

Divestment comes at a price to students

by Gabriel Rincon on

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At the Dec. 12 McGill University Board of Governors (BoG) meeting, members of Divest McGill protested against a recent revision to the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility’s (CAMSR) mandate. The policy change would prohibit the University from using the Endowment Fund to further specific social or political causes. CAMSR’s original purpose is to help fulfill the ethical and social responsibility clause of McGill’s Investment Policy for its endowment. Divest McGill’s aim is for McGill to divest those funds from fossil fuels. However, as the revision reflects, the purpose of the Endowment Fund as a whole is not to advance a particular social goal. While Divest McGill’s goal of fighting climate change by using the endowment fund might achieve symbolic benefit, this is outweighed by the financial costs and trade-offs.

The actual function of the Endowment Fund is to maintain the solvency of the various donations given to the University. According to the Investment Policy, a vast majority of these funds are already “externally restricted,” meaning that their use is earmarked for scholarships or other purposes; McGill merely invests the funds on behalf of the donor and then oversees the proper use of the funds. Seeing as it’s not truly McGill’s money, and that most of the money has already been assigned a purpose, it would be irresponsible for McGill to do anything with the funds other than ensure their continued solvency and growth.

That appears to be what the University is doing. McGill’s Investment Policy delineates asset classes in which the University can invest, and specifies an asset mix—the portions of the fund that can be invested in each asset. The asset mix shows a clear preference for diversification and safe investments. Assuming that the University invests optimally, it is achieving the highest possible return given its liquidity and risk preferences.

Changing McGill’s Endowment Fund asset composition to divest from fossil fuel companies would be costly. Divesting would mean lower returns at greater risk, which could jeopardize various forms of scholarship and library funding. Divest McGill’s demands to liquidate all investments in fossil fuel firms don’t justify the costs of such a move, as they provide little to no concrete benefit.

If Divest McGill is serious about fighting climate change, there are practical steps it can encourage the University to take without compromising the financial health of the Endowment Fund.

        Liquidating the University’s holdings in an oil firm does no tangible harm to the firm, since McGill’s Endowment is certainly not large enough to prompt a significant drop in the share price or cause market panic. By buying already-issued equities, McGill is not providing the fossil fuel companies, or any company, with new or significant funding. The only way McGill could directly benefit a fossil fuel company and meaningfully contribute to climate change would be to buy a bond or commercial paper directly from the issuing oil company, a much closer business relationship than simply holding shares. Whether or not McGill presently does this is unclear. Nonetheless, the tangible harm that would be inflicted on oil companies by the University selling their shares is minimal, beyond a symbolic stance against climate change. Divesting from fossil fuel companies also ignores that firms like ExxonMobil are industry leaders in clean energy innovation.

Meanwhile, taking this symbolic stance against fossil fuels would mean less money for scholarships, libraries, and other on-campus resources and initiatives that the endowment reserves funds for.

        If Divest McGill is serious about fighting climate change, there are practical steps it can encourage the University to take without compromising the financial health of the Endowment Fund. For example, Divest could construct an environmentally-conscious investment portfolio that meets the asset mix requirements and liquidity preferences of the fund with the same projected return, and propose it to the Investment Office. Alternatively, Divest McGill could raise money to create a fund specifically for the advancement of environmental research at McGill.

        There are trade-offs to pursuing a specific social mission. Certainly, helping low-income students pay for university and rewarding hard work through merit scholarships are worthy goals as well, with clear benefits. In contrast, Divest’s demand likely comes with significant costs that a symbolic stance cannot fix.            

 

Gabriel is a U2 Economics student at McGill. He loves cooking and sharing his food with his friends and family.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
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